Father Wagner
by thelonebamf
Summary: Based on a flashback of Rachael Summers- Kurt Wagner after the mutant massacre.


  
Based on the Flashback from Excalibur #35BR  
(Special thanks to the Brak album (starring Brak), the Police, and Andrew for giving me all those lovely mp3s)BR  
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A small boy walked cautiously on the edge of a stone fence, he looked around to make sure no one was watching, and began running as fast as he could manage on his elevated path. For a few moments he was soaring, he held his arms out like a jet plane and started laughing as he played his games. This high up it was almost like he really was flying, up in the clouds, but if he should fall... BR  
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They tell you that when you're high up, the last thing you want to do is look down. Somehow, they forgot to tell Erik. He experienced a brief moment of vertigo before slipping on a moss covered rock and began to tumble down to the gray dirt. He braced himself for a rough impact with the hard ground- BR  
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"Re-entry failed..."he closed his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth, but to his surprise met with a surface more yielding than the dry soil. At once he realized he had been caught in mid-descent. He slowly opened a frightened eye to learn identity of his savior. He looked up into the face of a demon.BR  
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Erik's eyes opened wide, but he quickly gave a sigh of relief. BR  
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"Father Wagner, thank you I thought for sure I was going to..." BR  
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"I think..." said the blue furred priest with an equal mix of sternness and love "that I remember telling you not to play on this wall. It's very old, some of the stones have a tendency to shift out of place when under the stress of...jet planes." He set the young boy down. "You're late for lunch, you'd better run if you don't want the others fighting over your dessert."BR  
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"Yes Father, thank you!" Erik waved as he ran towards the church.BR  
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Kurt Wagner watched him run, and took a seat against the wall as he looked up into the gray sky. It had been several years since the massacre, but the events were still vivid in his memory. He'd returned to Germany, and joined the priesthood once and for all. The days of super-powered crime fighting were over, now he merely a symbol for those who would fight in the name of equality for mutants. He thought fondly of his days as a hero, and briefly smiled. He still had an old Errol Flynn poster on his wall. He told himself it was to make the room more inviting when the children came in.BR  
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The children, so many of them, all orphaned, all mutants. It didn't matter what sort of powers they had, they were still so young, and frightened. Erik had been here for a little over a year, he reminded Kurt of himself as a youth. He shook his head and regretted not having more trees on the grounds for the more active children to climb. It had been a long time since much grew in the dry soil, so the children turned to the numerous piles of rubble and stone, playing their games. Kurt stood and teleported into the kitchen.BR  
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"Ugh!" laughed Pietro "As if my cooking didn't smell bad enough you have to add the fragrant stench of teleports to the mix. Help me out here and serve these last trays." He loaded armfuls of soup and bread onto Kurt. Kurt awkwardly walked out between the tables of noisy children, slurping their soup, balancing spoons on their noses until he came to the last table, he managed to get most of the bowls down, but at the very last bumped the side of a chair and spilled the final one on himself. The room burst into laughter.BR  
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"I guess that one was mine." smiled Kurt.BR  
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A small girl latched onto his arm, "Oh Father" she giggled, "You're so clumsy!"BR  
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"Well, you know," he replied, sitting the five-year old back into her seat, "It happens when you get to be as old as I am."BR  
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"Oh but you're not THAT old!" she squealed.BR  
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"No? How old am I?" he asked in amusement.BR  
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She thought hard for a minute and held up both hands with all her fingers spread, "THIS MANY!"BR  
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A freckled boy next to her joined in with his hands "AND THIS MANY!" he added.BR  
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"AND THIS MANY!" cheered the rest of the table, hands high in the air.BR  
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Kurt counted somewhere in the vicinity of 24 hands. Pietro walked out untying his apron.BR  
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"Oh, no guys." He laughed, "You've got it all wrong, you're at least twenty short. Didn't you know Father Wagner was around with the dinosaurs? He's practically ANCIENT!"BR  
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The children became silent immediately and stared at their beloved Father Wagner in amazement, as though they were in the presence of an antique painting, or fossilized skeleton in a museum. The silence was broken by the same little girl who started the discussion, as she burst into tears and latched herself onto the priest again, this time tightly around his waist. BR  
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"Dear child, what's wrong?" Asked Kurt.BR  
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"If you're that old- that means you're going to DIE!" She wailed.BR  
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With a gentle smile he stroked her hair and picked her up. "Child, Pietro was- exaggerating. I'm not anywhere as ancient as he'd have you think. I've got quite a bit of life in me yet." He set her down and turned a few somersaults down the aisle, much to the enjoyment of everyone in the room.BR  
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Pietro shook his head, "You can take the freak out of the circus..." He began cleaning up the tables as he watched Kurt attempt to make his way out of the room with tiny mutants latched onto each arm and leg while a small crowd of giggling children followed. After a short while the noise subsided after the children began their lessons. After Pietro finished cleaning, (which took an entire 64 seconds) he retired to his own room. When the children had all finally settled into their rooms and beds Father Wagner went to his own room and began his evening prayers, thanking the Lord for each of the children under his care and asking for their safety in the uncertain times ahead. BR  
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When he finished he turned his head to see Erik standing in the doorway, with his hair mussed from tossing in his bed. The boy bit his lip and rubbed a reddened eye before carefully entering.BR  
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"What is it Erik?" BR  
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"Well I- it started raining I..." the boy stammered.BR  
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Kurt looked out the window. Indeed a storm had moved in suddenly, and swelled raindrops were hitting the cracked earth and smashing against the windowpanes. The boy slowly drew closer. There had been a vicious storm the night his parents had been killed, though he was very young at the time, even the briefest of storms rekindled a deep fear in the back of his mind. Father Wagner knelt next to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder.BR  
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"Erik," he started, "I know you're frightened, but you don't have to worry, you're safe here. Pietro and I are going to make sure all of you are safe. It's going to be allright. Come with me and look out the window. With any luck, the rain will help the plants grow, and perhaps our garden will be green again."BR  
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Erik smiled, he enjoyed playing in the garden, making the plants grow. He had a certain knack for it. The thought obviously calmed him down.BR  
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"Come on child, it's time for sleep. In the morning, you can go outside and see if the rain has helped any." He led the boy back to his bedroom and tucked him in for sleep. Erik closed his eyes and snuggled into the center of his cool pillow. Kurt watched him for a moment before standing to leave the room.BR  
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"Father Wagner?" the boy's voice called him back.BR  
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"Yes?" he turned his head slightly.BR  
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"Umm.. I wanted to thank you- and um..."BR  
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"Is something wrong?"BR  
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"No, it's just, well, everyone calls you Father Wagner..."BR  
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"Well, yes, it is my name." He smiled, "Are you going to start calling me Kurt now?"BR  
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Erik raised himself slightly from his pillow and shook his head. "No, It's just everyone calls you Father, and I do too...but is it allright if, inside my head I call you Dad?"BR  
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Kurt hesitated for a moment. He looked at the boy, sitting up in his bed underneath a tangled mass of sheets. His wide eyes shone in a hopeful anticipation. Kurt sighed and smiled before turning and sitting down on the boy's bed.BR  
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"Now why would you want to do something like that?" he asked kindly.BR  
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"Because- because, well you, you and Pietro both look after us so much," the boy stammered, "but you especially, you always make sure we're okay and you took care of me after- after..." he began to breathe hard. "Now none of us have moms and dads- won't you please? I won't say it loud- not ever, just to me. Please?" Erik carefully exhaled, and a few tears stained his sheets. He raised his hands to wipe his eyes before he realized he wasn't crying.BR  
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Kurt raised a methodical hand to his newly dampened cheek. He sighed, "My child, I- I don't know what to say. You know I love you, I love all the children here as my own. I just, never thought-" he trailed off and shut his eyes for a moment. Suddenly, he felt the soft pressure of Erik's arms around his waist, andit became too much to bare. He embraced the boy and began to laugh softly, as his tears rained down on his tussled hair. He whispered, "I yield, Erik. You win. You win."BR  
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Erik finally fell asleep, with a head of soggy hair and smile on his face. Kurt watched the boy sleep for a few moments before retiring to his own bedroom. He prepared his bed to go to sleep, but knealt again on the floor to offer his prayers, this time- not as a priest, or a hero, but merely as himself, a man, Kurt Wagner.BR  
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"Dear Lord- please watch over the children, help them in these difficult times, and guide them in the future- - -BR  
And Father, thank you for Erik..." Another tear rolled down his face, "Though I have dedicated my life to you, it was kind of you  
to remember that-" he paused, "I always wanted a son."BR  
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amen.  
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Okay- this is my first post! I'd love some reviews! Thanks! 


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